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Unprecedented

Hi everyone. Last year I started having a problem. All the leaves on my Drosera and VFTs turn black while the growth points remain green. Whatever it is has killed nearly ALL of my Pings. I assume it's the same thing that has been knocking off my Sarracenia as well. I thought the problem was gone, but it recently came back. All of these plants looked great a few weeks ago.

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I've never encountered this problem in all my years of growing. I'd greatly appreciate any help. Thanks.
 
Ouch...those plants look pretty bad.

Have you sprayed them with anything lately?(pesticide, foliar fertilizer) That happened to my sundews once, when I sprayed them with a fungicide. One died, but the other fortunately grew back from the roots.
 
Have watered with Captan and Cleary's. Other than that, nothing else.
 
Cleary's is a fertilizer right?
 
Oh man, that's painful to look at. I'm not sure what's wrong, but if I were you, I'd probably do a massive repotting. No more fertilization or treatments, and all new media.

EDIT: Also, I'd probably trim off anything that's black. Amputations all around.

Jason
 
Well, it's affecting a large portion of the collection. Repotting and trimming is not gonna happen. Besides, I repotted a lot of them when it first appeared. It came back anyway.
 
Can I ask about your water source? Seems like the ends of the plants are dying first, reminds me of heavy metals with aquatic plants.
 
I use rainwater and city water which sits for over a day to allow the chlorine to evaporate. Have always done it this way.
 
  • #10
I use rainwater and city water which sits for over a day to allow the chlorine to evaporate. Have always done it this way.

Gah! Letting water sit may dissipate some of the bad chemicals, but it does nothing to remove the ionized minerals in the water. I would highly suggest you move to an alternate water source. Even though it may have worked in the past, water quality is not a constant and you can not expect that tap water will always work.

Jason
 
  • #11
The minerals in the city water don't evaporate with the chlorine. Unless your water has a low ppm (usually below 50 is low) than it isn't safe. otherwise, stick to rainwater, distilled, or Reverse Osmosis.
 
  • #13
I've considered the possibility that my water quality has changed. Seems like the only conclusion. However, I get live sphagnum growth. Usually an indication that water is okay.
 
  • #14
Thanks for the links. Didn't know all these changes were taking place.
 
  • #15
Man sorry to see this kind of damage : / I've seen Neps with the same results, sudden death. There's a thread started about the same mystery killer on a large Nep. The accused is a type of fungus.
If you're interested I'm waiting for some unknowns to pitcher so I can ID from a list of possibilities, I'll be glad to send you some to get you back to growing some Sarrs.

Hope you figure this one out : /
 
  • #16
Looking at the historical data it appears the amount of sodium has gone up, but there are only two or three years that they tested sodium. Still the highest is 53 ppm.
 
  • #17
Maybe you city switched from chlorine to choloramines. chloramines will not "evaporate" like chlorine would. The water may still be soft but not treated the same way. About two years ago my city water switched and instantly my fish let me know with heavy breathing and brown algae.
 
  • #18
Oh,I've got exactly the same problem.But here in my collections my VTF is the only victim of this disease.It has been suffering from it for half a year and completely withered yesterday. I assume that perhaps because it is more vulnerable to fungus attack. Plus, I 've been using exlusively distilled water so that I'm pretty sure the death of my VTF doesn't result from mineral accumulation .
 
  • #19
I think Jason is right on. Letting your water sit shouldn't do much.

I hope your collection gets through this ok.... best of luck to ya.
 
  • #20
If you do suspect your water is the problem, you can always invest in an inexpensive TDS meter. Do a google or amazon search. I've found mine to come in quite handy for monitoring the quality of the rainwater I collect.
 
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